Facebook ad agencies for groundworkers compared

Separating the domestic work from the trade work

Most of a groundworker's turnover comes from main contractors. That is won on price, reliability and relationships, and no Meta campaign changes it. The domestic slice, driveways, drainage repairs, land drainage, garden levelling and foundations for extensions and garden rooms, is a different story: visual, local and quotable.

So the first thing we checked was whether each agency distinguishes between the two or just promises 'leads'. Then we scored on whether it serves groundworks, construction or driveway trades, on follow-up tools, since a machine operator cannot stop to answer the phone, and on fee transparency and proof.

We replaced one agency from the original shortlist, a Meta video specialist for glazing firms, with a North West agency that names groundworkers and shows groundworks sites in its portfolio.

1. We Build Trades

Best for: Groundworks and civils firms with several gangs that want one platform for everything

We Build Trades, listed at Halesowen in the West Midlands, offers an AI-powered growth system joining a website, paid media on Google, Meta, TikTok and Bing, AI lead follow-up and a CRM pipeline with reporting, plus area exclusivity. It serves trade and home service businesses in general, naming heating, electrical, roofing and solar.

For a groundworks firm with a domestic arm, the multi-channel mix and the CRM are appropriate. The company claims more than 300 trade clients and a system refined since 2017.

Groundworks is not mentioned, nothing is priced and no case studies are published. Diligence is needed before a firm of any size signs.

2. Riley Marketing

Best for: Small groundworks firms that want the domestic enquiries caught, quoted and reviewed for a fixed fee

Riley Marketing works with builders, landscapers and roofers, and has built a site for an Essex building firm, SET Building & Brickwork, whose work overlaps directly with domestic groundworks. Its foundational growth system costs a fixed £149 a month and includes an SEO-focused website with service and location pages, Google Business Profile optimisation, Google review automation that also reactivates past customers, missed call text back, and a CRM with lead status tracking and branded quote pages on the firm's own domain.

Apply that to groundworks. Service pages for drainage, footings, driveway bases and land drainage, each with location pages for the towns you cover, catch the homeowner searches. Text back answers the call you missed while in the cab. The CRM separates a £1,200 soakaway enquiry from a £40,000 footings package for a developer and tracks both to a decision. Branded quote pages make a groundworks quote, which is usually a dense list of excavation, muck away and materials, readable on a phone.

Facebook and Instagram ads sit on top as an add-on, with Google Ads and local SEO also available, so Meta can be aimed only at the domestic services where it works. The system is built before you pay, revisions are unlimited, there is no setup fee and no notice period.

Tom Riley, who founded the agency, has ten years in search and lead generation, led organic growth at an insurtech and has run his own lead generation sites. He is the direct contact for every client, which suits an owner-operator groundworker who does not want to brief an account team.

3. Scale Through Us

Best for: Groundworks firms focused on driveways and paving who want ads plus SMS and CRM automation

Scale Through Us, at Great Portland Street in London and working UK-wide, lists construction, driveways and paving, roofing and renovations among its niches. It sells a fully managed growth department: Facebook, Instagram and Google ads, web design, SMS and email marketing, reputation management, SEO, CRM integration and growth consultancy, capped at three businesses per niche per location.

The construction and driveway listings are the closest match to groundworks on this list after Riley. The SMS and CRM automation helps with the on-site response problem.

Pricing is not published. Proof is three short testimonials from electrical, roofing and driveway clients, with no detailed case studies.

4. ServiceLeads

Best for: Groundworkers selling a single high-ticket domestic product such as resin or block driveways

ServiceLeads is a founder-led Meta specialist in Cornwall that headlines kitchen fitters and also serves roof repair, windows and high-ticket local services. It charges a flat £750 a month plus ad spend paid direct to Meta, with a 30-day guarantee of a set number of qualified homeowner enquiries or no fee. The client owns the ad account and anonymised cost-per-lead results are published.

For a groundworker this only makes sense if there is one packaged domestic offer, typically driveways, that justifies £750 a month in management. Footings and drainage for builders cannot be sold this way.

There is no website, review or CRM element, so the firm must already have those.

5. Digital 4 Trades

Best for: North West groundworkers wanting a small personal web and social agency without contracts

Digital 4 Trades, based at Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool, is one of the few agencies that names groundworkers as a trade and shows groundworks in its portfolio alongside joinery, locksmiths and heating. Services are website design, logo and brand design, SEO, social media management, lead generation and Google Ads. Its line is 'you stay on the tools, we do the marketing'.

There are no lock-in rental contracts and the agency says it will not hold a website hostage. Content management starts from a couple of hundred pounds a month; websites are bought outright or paid over about a year. Case studies cover a roofing firm and a taxi firm.

Meta ads are not listed as a named service, so the social element is management rather than paid lead generation.

Groundworks decision table

Each row shows which side of the business the agency can realistically help with, based on its own stated services and trades.

Choosing as a groundworker

If most of your work is for builders, no Facebook agency is a priority. What you need is a credible website and reviews that survive a main contractor's due diligence. Riley Marketing and Digital 4 Trades both deliver that; Riley adds the text back and CRM for the domestic calls, at a published £149.

If you want to grow a driveway or drainage arm for homeowners, add Meta. Riley's add-on keeps it on one system; ServiceLeads is the specialist alternative if you already have the rest; Scale Through Us bundles automation but shows little proof.

Compare with our rankings for resin driveway installers and extension builders, two trades groundworkers often serve, and read lead quality against lead volume before promising any agency a budget.

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